Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense AnalysisEarly American History is filled with influential figures that helped our country become the nation we are today. You hear about all the famous Americans like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin growing up in grade school, and how they helped in our drive for independence. There also is however many people who’s importance to our revolution are not as celebrated. One of these men is Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense, a pamphlet anonymously submitted in 1776 that emphasized the need for Americans to become independent from England“[resulted] in the first successful ant colonial action in modern history” (Earlyamerica.com). By analyzing his writing we see how his writing techniques capture the audience in a way that very few people had done before.

In the Introduction to common sense, Paine gets straight to the point about what he wants to talk about, conveys his “immediate understanding about [his] feelings towards the rule of Great Britain over the States” (Sudymode.com) and the “violent abuse of power” (Paine) that they have placed upon the colonials. By the clever use of diction, he calls the people “sufferers” and “grievously oppressed” to gain their sentiments toward what he feels is important, the natural rights of men. He also uses an allusion “a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right” (Paine), in order to make the public see the tyranny they are dealing with. The audience that he writes to not only understand what suffering is they understand that they should not have to put up with this kind of treatment. The whole introduction was brilliantly planned out by Paine because he does not try and beat around the bush or use complicated words or phrases; if he had common people would not understand what he was saying right away.

In the section Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs, Paine repeatedly says how America should be...

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...that everyone is born with, you can be a genius or a fool but you still have it. Most people use it everyday however; some do not. In 1775-1776 ThomasPaine wrote a pamphlet named Common Sense. The pamphlet was written by ThomasPaine because he wanted to find a way for the American people to understand what the British is doing and how we needed to revolt. He wrote this pamphlet in a way that the “common” man could understand it. This is where the title “Common Sense” comes from. The whole pamphlet is simple logical reasons why we need to start our own government and revolt from the British Monarchy. This pamphlet was a great idea and in my opinion, we owe everything we have to ThomasPaine for writing Common Sense. This pamphlet inspired the whole nation to revolt just as he intended for it to. Without him, who knows what government we would have.
He talks about many different themes in this pamphlet or book. One of these themes are about what a government supposed to be and what it is supposed to do for its country or another one would be him talking about what a monarchy is and its flaws. Each theme he talks about he explains with such detail and thought. He put a lot of work into this pamphlet and it shows in the way America reacted to it and the events that took place after this pamphlet was published.
In Common Sense, ThomasPaine says that the purpose...

..."Common Sense" was written by ThomasPaine in 1776 after he quickly sided with the colonists in their controversy with Britain. The pamphlet delves into the understanding of the difference between society and government. Paine is considered to be one of the "founding fathers" of America, having a large impact on the American Revolution. His work also included writings about Deism and the French Revolution.
Common Sense focuses mainly on the distinctions between society and government, including the distinctions between society and governments origins. This work wasn't entirely difficult to understand, however there were a few points throughout the book that seemed repetitive. Paine seemed to stress the point of separating society and government excessively, something that in my opinion cannot be done without having certain consequences. Thomas Paine's writing sends the message that society is an overall savior, while government is wickedness. This may be so in some cases, but a truly civilized nation cannot function without a government. Society is the overall relationship between fellow members in a community. Just as much as society is needed for people to get through their everyday lives, a government is needed to make laws and to regulate them.
I agree with Paine when he wrote about how a colony needs to have representatives. I also agree with him that the representatives should be...

...ThomasPaine was born at Thetford, Norfolk, on January 29, 1737. He was the son of a Quaker staymaker and he spent several years at sea after he tried some occupations on land. He only went to school up to the age of thirteen because he started to work for his father. After some time he took low-paying jobs in tax-collecting, and he winded up educating himself in his free time. Paine was fired for publishing an article arguing that raising tax-collectors’ salaries would reduce corruption in 1772. ThomasPaine eventually met Benjamin Franklin which was pretty much the turning point of his life. Benjamin Franklin eventually convinced Paine to move to America at the age of 37.
ThomasPaine wrote Right of Man in 1791, which was a guide to Enlightenment ideas. In 1973, his book The Age of Reason, argued against Christian doctrines. He has a claim to the title The Father of the American Revolution because of Common Sense, originally titled Plain Truth, which was the pro-independence monograph pamphlet he anonymously published on January 10, 1776. This quickly spread and it was the best selling work in eighteenth-century America. It made complex ideas understandable to average readers, with clear writing. He argued that the colonies should seek full independence from Britain. Common Sense supposedly convinced many who were unsure of the purpose of the war...

...Paine VS Chalmers
ThomasPaine and James Chalmers were two men with different ideas and different social-political backgrounds. Chalmers was an American Landowner in Maryland while Paine was an Englishman who arrived from England to Pennsylvania with one purpose in mind: dissolving the English Monarchy in the English Colonies in America. Even though these two characters were established in America, their ideas concerning Democracy and Monarchy were different. Paine was in favor of the abolition of the Monarchy through democracy with his argument about class distinctions and privileges. For example, he criticized the fact that the monarchy believed their power came directly from God. Chalmers was in favor of the Monarchy ruling in the Americas since he and his social class were getting a lot of benefits by being tied to the British Crown.
Paine thought that the English King was unworthy of having power, and he thought that the English Constitution was tyrannical. It is well understood that Paine came to the Americas with the idea of getting rid of the Monarchy by starting a revolution in America. He would later go to France and help them start the French Revolution. Paine’s Common Sense led Chalmers to write an essay concerning the benefits of Monarchy in response to Paine’s challenge that anyone who believed there was a single good reason to have Monarchy in America...

...Analytical paper on Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Adriana Gonzales
Samuel D. Farris
HIST 2313.22
March 21,2013
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…” (Common Sense, 3). This quote, from the opening of Common Sense, basically states what was on Thomas Paine’s mind during the uprising of the revolution. Common Sense played a huge part in the start of the Revolutionary War but raised a few questions such as: How did Thomas Paine’s background influence his ideas? Does it matter that he was new to the colonies when he had written his arguments? Why de he think it was best for America to break away from Britain? What were some weaknesses in his arguments? What arguments can go against the colonies?
ThomasPaine was born in England in January 29, 1737 to a Quaker father and an Anglican mother. He received little education and left grammar school at the age of thirteen for a three-year apprenticeship in his father’s shop as a corset maker (ThomasPaine, 1). He then established a business in his trade and married. His wife died within a few months, and he took on a job like his father-in-law as an officer of the excise. This occupation was a poorly paid occupation (Aldridge, 15-16). It seems as Paine attained Quaker habits in “rejecting accepted ways and...

...HOW FAR DO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHIES OF EITHER HOBBES AND LOCKE OR
PAINE AND BURKE DIFFER.
This essay will examine the philosophical difference between Edmund Burke and ThomasPaine relating to the French and American Revolutions at the late Eighteenth Century. We are going to present a summary of the debate between these two different philosophers in the first part of this essay. The pros and cons of each man will be looked at in the second and third part of the essay and the final part of this essay will explain why Thomas Paine's view was more accepted and legitimate in America than Edmund Burke. In summary this essay will compare and contrast both Paine and Burke views of natural rights, human nature and the government.
Burke and Paine came from two different sides of the political world and different backgrounds. Paine was not educated and comes from Thetford in Norfolk and Burke was a practitioner from Ireland, went to Oxbridge university in Ireland and later became a Member of Parliament in 1765. Burke was a typical conservative who believed in history, tradition and the status quo. Paine was a trouble maker from the left and a Republican who believed in revolution and democracy, and that was why people liked him. Paine and Burke started writing and arguing in the late eighteenth century or early nineteenth century and it was the...

...September 7, 2013
ThomasPaine Questions
1. Why do you think ThomasPaine writes Common Sense anonymously? How does he think his work will be remembered? ThomasPaine wrote Common Sense anonymously because the ideas he used in writing the book were contradicting the government at that time. If the government knew that he wrote it then they will take action against him to punish him. He probably thought that his work would remain as something memorable such as it was only there to raise the spirit of the colonist to fight back and to stand up against the government.
2. According to Paine, what is the difference between society and government? Paine states that society and government are completely different in purpose and also different in origin. Society is created innocently for the people's happiness although the government is poison but necessary product made by desires of people to support people's happiness by forcefully restraining desires of people themselves.
3. What is the meaning of 'liberty’ in Paine's thought? Equality? What is the relationship between the two? The meaning of liberty in Paine’s thought was the state of being free within society from cruel limits enforced by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. He described equality as the state of being equal in positions, rights, and opportunities. The relationship...

...The Effects of Thomas Paine's Common Sense
How important was it for America to gain its independence from England? ThomasPaine, an English radicalist, thought that it was extremely important. Important enough to write a pamphlet on why American Colonist should have independence. At the time, 1776, many Americans felt the same way about Paine's view on independence, but never took any action on it. Common Sense was published in 1776 as a way to engage people in certain political issues at hand. It was written by ThomasPaine to show that a break with England was only inevitable but justified. In Common Sense, Paine tries to convince people that the time for debate was over and that it was now time for American Colonists to raise arms against England. Paine tries to use a style of presenting this information that will not only convince but inspire or motivate American Colonists and raise up against the king.
ThomasPaine divides Common Sense into four sections. First and second talking about how a government should be set up, and why a monarchy is wrong and how the effects of hereditary succession are negative. Paine starts the second half of the pamphlet on the natural rights human beings have. He ends it by talking about the capabilities of America and how the Colonists would be able to defeat Great Britain....